Bell's Sparrow

About the Bell's Sparrow

Bell's sparrow (Artemisiospiza belli) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found in Mexico and the United States. Bell's sparrow has a complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described in 1850 with the binomial Emberiza belli. Its specific epithet and later English name honor John Graham Bell, who discovered and collected the lectotype. Bell's sparrow was later reassigned to genus Amphispiza that was erected in 1874 and was also given the English name "sage sparrow". In 2007 the new genus Artemisiospiza was suggested for the sage sparrow and in 2011 it was formally erected. Taxonomic systems began adopting the new assignment in 2012.

The further taxonomy of Bell's sparrow is unsettled. The IOC and AviList assign it these three subspecies: A. b. canescens (Grinnell, 1905) A. b. belli (Cassin, 1850) A. b. cinerea (Townsend, 1890) As of late 2025 the Clements taxonomy and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assign a fourth subspecies, A. b. clementeae (Ridgway, 1898) that the others include in A. b. belli.

What is now the sagebrush sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis) was originally... Wikipedia →